I was particularly pleased to be asked to contribute a foreword to this book
because of my long-standing interest in the topic of neglected children and
their families. For nearly a decade, there has been increasing recognition in the
UK that we have often been ineffective in addressing the needs of children
neglected within their own families. We have become more aware of the grave
and long-lasting impact of various kinds of neglect upon children's development. The more obvious evidence of physical neglect has long been recognized. However, less clear-cut signs, such as when children do not receive
adequate stimulation, protective discipline or reliable health care, were not until
recently fully incorporated into assessments of risk in the child protection
context. This book is timely. It incorporates a good deal of research and practitioner experience which has become available since my own work on neglect
was published in 1998.

Since 1997, there have been, and are likely to be, very important developments in policy and practice which affect, directly or indirectly, the issue of
neglect. Some of these have been initiated by government in England. It is not
yet clear how, and in what ways, these policies will influence comparable
services in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but it is highly likely that
they will have some impact.

In relation to neglect, probably the single most important change in the last
five years has been the acceptance that children who are neglected must be seen
as being on a continuum of severity and that service responses must be developed accordingly. This marks a shift towards greater involvement in preventative strategies to support families at early stages. Thus, the 'Sure Start' projects
in England began modestly but have been widely extended. They have been
designed to address problems of child rearing in the pre-school years, for
example, by identifying and helping families who might be described as
'incipiently neglectful', for whatever reason. These projects look very
promising.

However, the separation of the projects from mainstream social services,
whatever its merits, does not encourage 'joined up' thinking between the

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